Massive import of AIFF to iTunes?


Is there a way to import thousands of AIFF files to iTunes automatically? This is on a 2008 24" iMac which has been updated to Yosemite and iTunes 12.0.1. Trying to rebuild an iTunes library which was made largely from LPs converted to AIFF after a recent hard drive failure/replacement (Luckily, repair techs were able to salvage the vast majority of my data.). Forum member at the Apple Support Community is advising to manually drag & drop AIFFs into a newly created folder, zap unwanted duplicates with duplicate finder software, and then import folder to iTunes. Just highlighting the sheer numbers of AIFFs in the finder for dragging over to the new folder is taxing the computer to the point of HD lockup & black screen on the first attempt. Just wondering if someone here knows of a better approach. iTunes library, pre-crash with all these AIFFs was around 200 GB residing on a 1TB drive of which around 500 GB remained available. Post crash, iTunes auto-imported all the stuff ripped from CD & bought from the iTunes store automatically but tons of the LPs converted to AIFF remain on the Mac but not in iTunes.
Thanks.
lg1
It does take a while but leaving it running for hours seemed to work

It might help if you uncheck the "move files to iTunes library" option.